Google’s Android-powered VR platform supports Unreal games
Yesterday during Google’s annual I/O keynote, the company made a point of mentioning that Electronic Arts and Ubisoft — two of the biggest third-party game studios — were working on projects for Google’s new virtual reality platform, Daydream. Now the company is ready to announce another: Epic Games. The latest version of the company’s powerful and ubiquitous game-design toolset, Unreal Engine 4, is coming to Google’s next-gen mobile VR system. For developers it ensures easy porting of existing apps to Daydream with little extra work required. For consumers, it means higher-quality mobile VR experiences, and maybe more of them too.
The plugin is a joint effort between Epic, Google and Hardsuit Labs, according to Epic’s VR and augmented reality technical director Nick Whiting. To show off the progress the Unreal team has made so far, Epic has created an app currently dubbed Dungeon that takes full advantage of what is perhaps Daydream’s most important feature: its motion-sensing, Wiimote-like controller.
“We’re making Dungeon a tech demo like we did with Showdown and Bullet Train to kind of feel out the platform, figure out how far we can push the visuals and kind of experiment using the motion controller,” Whiting says. At its most basic level, Dungeon is a fantasy role-playing game where you’re casting fireballs at spiders with a wand, drinking various potions and eating apples bite-by-bite to regain health. As the working title suggests, this all takes place in the bowels of a medieval castle.
Whiting adds that Daydream’s input device is the first three-degrees-of-freedom (up and down, left and right, forward and backward) controller Epic has encountered, so Dungeon acts as a way to establish a set of standards for the nascent platform — much like Showdown did for head tracking on early Oculus Rift prototypes, and Bullet Train did for the Oculus Touch controllers.
“We’re figuring out the best practices and ways to fool your brain into thinking you’ve got a full arm [in virtual reality] even though it’s not positionally tracking,” he says. The relatively simple remote is a stark contrast to something like the the Oculus Touch controllers or HTC Vive’s input devices, which offer full 3D input recognition and more buttons.
It has to be simpler, though, considering those other controllers work with hardware that’s considerably more powerful than the smartphone in your pocket. But, thanks to the previous work Epic has put into Unreal Engine 4 with other motion controllers, things are progressing quickly. In fact, Dungeon is the result of just one developer, environmental artist Shane Caudle, working on the project with pre-made assets pulled from the Unreal online marketplace. Based on the video embedded above, it already looks impressive.
What’s more, starting today, applications developed in Unreal Engine 4 will join the some 50 million mobile VR apps currently on Google Cardboard. “If you enable this plugin and deploy your app, and it’s not [running] on a Daydream qualified device,” Whiting says, “it’ll fall back to basically Cardboard-level support.”
That’s pretty important considering that the number of Cardboard-ready devices is still going to outnumber Daydream-certified ones for quite some time. “A lot of people developed applications [in Unreal Engine 4] and wanted to deploy on Cardboard,” Whiting says. “This opens up the door to that.”
The free Unreal Engine 4 plugin is available to download now from GitHub.
Google’s Family Library will let Android users share apps
It’s been a long time coming, but Android users will soon be able to share apps with other family members. Android Police reports that Google has begun notifying developers that Family Sharing, which lets up to six family members enjoy the same paid app, will be enabled by default from July 2nd, giving Android households the opportunity to enjoy similar perks to those with iPhones and iPads.
While Google’s support documentation currently covers app downloads, Family Sharing will extend to other parts of the Play Store. Previous Android Police teardowns have shown that Books and Movies will also be covered, but there will be restrictions in place to stop the same title being streamed on more than one device at a time.
Although it’s not yet known how Android users will opt-in to Family Sharing, Google Music may provide some clues. The streaming service provides a family plan that caters for up to six users, who are invited to link their account by a “family manager.” It’s likely that Google will follow a similar route with Family Sharing, but include additional checks so that younger users can seek purchase approval for their own apps.
Via: Android Police, The Verge
Source: Google Support
Google isn’t abandoning Hangouts for its new chat apps
The launch of Google’s new chat apps Allo and Duo doesn’t mean death for Hangouts. A spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is “continuing to invest in Hangouts” and that “it will remain a standalone product.” While these two new applications make big G’s messaging products a bit convoluted for the average user, they all cater to different audiences. As BI noted, Hangouts is a cross-platform app tied with Google’s enterprise offerings, and offices will most likely continue using it.
Allo, on the other hand, is a mobile app more comparable to WhatsApp, Messenger and Line. You don’t even need a Gmail account to sign up — all you need is a phone number. Google introduced Allo, along with its video calling companion Duo, at I/O today. The company describes it as a smart messaging app imbued with the powers of artificial intelligence. It can conjure up automatic replies, make reservations for you in-app and even has an Incognito mode for encrypted messaging. Allo and Duo won’t be out until sometime this summer for both iOS and Android users, so you’ll have to make do with your simpler chat apps for now.
Source: Business Insider
Here are all the highlights from the Google I/O 2016 keynote!
From two hours to under twelve minutes, we’ve distilled, titrated, evaporated and reconstituted Google’s annual launch event into something a little bit more palatable. There’s more on Google’s VR plans, more on Android’s latest iteration, and something to make your entire home voice-enabled. Maybe. Run through it all right above.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
Google’s extra-secure Allo chat uses familiar encryption tech
Does the extra-private messaging in Google’s Allo seem familiar? Your eyes don’t deceive you — you really have seen it before. Open Whisper Systems has confirmed that Allo uses its Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption when you’re in Incognito Mode. Yes, that means that Google and Facebook-owned WhatsApp are sharing the same underlying security technology. Not that there’s much reason to complain. The protocol is strong enough that privacy advocates like Edward Snowden approve, and its open source nature can make it relatively ubiquitous.
Source: Open Whisper Systems
Google I/O schedule leaks info on Android apps for Chrome OS
It wasn’t mentioned during today’s keynote, but we’re pretty sure you will hear about Google getting Android apps and the Play Store running on Chrome OS tomorrow. Confirmation has come through a (since updated) I/O calendar entry pointed out by 9to5Google, which said “Today we announced that we’re adding the best mobile app experiences in the world, Android apps and the Google Play store, to the best browser in the world, Chrome!” Momentum for the change has been picking up since last year, and some users have been seeing an option to enable the Play Store for a while. While we wait for more details, any developers at I/O have an incentive to arrive early: the first 50 are promised a free Chromebook for their trouble.
Source: 9to5Google, Google I/O Schedule
Google’s Allo puts AI in a messaging app
Google has introduced a new messaging app today called Allo. It’s not a Hangouts replacement, but a completely standalone app that looks kind of like Facebook Messenger. Indeed, it follows Facebook’s model, complete with some machine learning, courtesy of Google’s newly announced personal assistant. As Google engineering director Erik Kay explained on stage during today’s I/O keynote, Allo is a smart messaging app that “learns over time” to make conversations easier and more productive.
Like a lot of messaging apps, Allo has something called Expressions. These look to be an amped up version of emojis and stickers. For example, Kay demonstrated something called Whisper Shout — sliding your finger down will result in a small-text “whisper” while sliding it up will prompt a large-text “shout.” You can also send full-bleed photos, with the ability to doodle over it like you can on Snapchat. Interestingly, Allo is based on your phone number — you sign up with it. Connecting Allo to your Google account is completely optional.
Another neat feature is something called Smart Reply, which utilizes some of that machine learning mentioned earlier. So if someone says “Dinner later?” it’ll automatically suggest options like “I’m in!” or “I’m busy,” anticipating what you want to say next. The more you use it, Kay says, the better the app will be. Smart Replies can include emojis and stickers too.
The really cool part is that Smart Replies even works in response to photos. Allo builds upon Google’s computer vision capabilities to understand the context and content of images. It’ll understand that your friend just sent a photo of a dog, and even the breed of it. So an automated Smart Reply would be something like “Cute dog!” It’d suggest “Yummy” or “I love clams!” to a photo of clam linguine.
Google Assistant also plays a role here. It functions similarly to the chatbot idea espoused by Microsoft and Facebook, but appears to be a lot more automated. So if someone says they want Italian food for dinner, a Smart Reply will automatically show up suggesting to make a dinner reservation. Tap that and you’ll see a restaurant reservation card that’ll show a list of restaurants nearby. From there you can tap links to see info like Opening Hours and Location. Then you can select “make a reservation” and it’ll do so via OpenTable.
You can also just call up Google Assistant just by hitting “@google” while you’re chatting, to bring up search, so you can share funny GIFs with friends, for example. You can also just chat with the Google Assistant directly if you want deeper information. On stage, Google demonstrated an example of someone looking up the scores of Real Madrid, instantly recognizing that the person using it was already a Real Madrid fan. It brought up scores, the roster and also the profiles of each player.
If you like, you can also play games with the Google Assistant in Allo. “Emoji Games” is one where you’re to guess a movie based on a string of emojis. There are also more games to come, depending on what developers come up with.
Just like Chrome, Allo has an Incognito mode if you want your messages to be private and secure. It has end-to-end encryption, private notifications and expiring chats. If you delete an incognito conversation on Allo, it’s gone forever.
Allo will be available for both Android and iOS later this summer.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
Source: Google
Google Assistant will talk to your favorite services
Google Assistant won’t just be helpful for talking to Google itself — it’ll tap into a wide array of services, too. The search firm has revealed that it’s working on a “comprehensive way” for third parties to tap into the AI-powered, conversation-oriented helper. You’ll have to wait to hear more about it in the “coming months,” but there are already some big partners lined up, like OpenTable, Spotify and Uber. On the I/O stage, Google also anticipated developers writing trivia challenges and other games. In short: as with Facebook Messenger and Skype, you may find yourself chatting up all kinds of services in the near future.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
The new Android N preview is more stable and updates itself
Google surprised us all with an Android N developer preview two months before we landed at I/O, and updated it with new performance-enhancing features just a few weeks back. Now, as revealed during this morning’s I/O keynote, there’s a new update for you bold souls who crave bleeding edge software.
While Google refers to Preview 3 as an “incremental update” on its developer site, there’s still enough here to get excited about. Unlike the last two versions of the preview, Google says this third build is the first “beta-quality” candidate — in other words, you’ll run into fewer headaches if you try to use it as your daily driver on a Nexus 5X, 6P or other compatible devices. We haven’t played with the new N preview ourselves so we can’t confirm how much more stable it feels, but we’ll follow up with impressions as soon as we can.
Beyond that, this new update also brings with it a new software-updating scheme inspired by (surprisingly enough) Chromebooks. When an update is available, Android N can download the system image in the background and can automatically install it the next time you reboot your phone.
“There’s no ‘Android is upgrading’ [pop-up], no delays,” VP of Android Engineering Dave Burke told us. “It’s just a really nice, seamless way to do it.”
It’s a smart move; especially with respect to security updates like the ones Nexus devices get every month. When it comes to those more timely, crucial security patches, Android N lets you know the update will happen ahead of time and will then just install it upon reboot. Meanwhile, you’ll be alerted to “dessert” updates — the big ones with the delicious new names — in the new suggestions section in settings, where you can choose to install it now or apply it later.
If you’re interested in giving Preview 3 a shot on your phone, it’ll be available today.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/0 2016 follow along here.
Android N gets a high-performance VR mode
Even the most stubborn fence-sitters have to admit it: Virtual reality is worming its way into our the fabric of our culture. Part of VR’s growth is because we can now just strap phones to our faces and see other worlds, but that typically requires lots of work from phone makers like Samsung and LG to get their VR hardware and software working just right. The software side of that equation might have just gotten way easier to figure out though, thanks to Google’s announcement of VR mode for Android N.
In a nutshell, think of VR mode as a special high-performance mode for your smartphone. As Google’s VP of Engineer for Android Dave Burke puts it, a phone that meets certain criteria and conforms to “lots of rules” can declare itself “VR-ready”. From there, apps like virtual reality games and YouTube can fire up VR mode to unlock extra power and — crucially — drive down the latency between the moment you move the phone mounted to your head and the moment you see your environment change on-screen. Too much latency means you don’t get the sort of persistent, “I’m actually somewhere else” feeling as you spin around with a phone on your face.
We’re told getting to this point required work on just about every level of Android N’s software stack. When VR mode is on, it changes how Android interprets information coming from its sensors. Graphics have to be drawn differently, too. Usually, Android uses a double graphics buffer where one set of images is drawn on the screen and then swapped with another set stored in memory. With VR mode on, though, apps can use a single buffer mode where images are replaced much faster, on a scan line-by-scan line basis.
Oh, and curiously enough, Burke also mentioned in a blog post that developers would have access to an “exclusive CPU core for VR apps” — we’re still trying to figure out how that works. Still, it’s hard to argue with results. To put things in perspective, Samsung and Oculus managed to get motion-to-photon latency to under 20 milliseconds with the Gear VR. Google’s work seems to have matched that ultra-low latency: the Nexus 6P with VR mode inside Google Cardboard also comes in under that 20 millisecond bar, compared to the 100 millisecond latency without VR mode.
There’s still a lot to dissect here, and we’ll update this story as we learn more.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
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